


And I don't fear the dark anymore

by MercyBuckets



Category: Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: Can be read as gen, Dairine To The Rescue, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Powers, Metaphorical Witch Burning, Mission Fic, Missions Gone Wrong, Mistaken Identity, Partnership, Peril, Powerlessness, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 21:17:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8549428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercyBuckets/pseuds/MercyBuckets
Summary: Nita will be underwater in less than five minutes and Kit doesn’t feel strong enough to survive this.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For @firebreathing-bookworm on tumblr who wanted Nita and Kit without too much focus on shipping. Of course my mind went to angst and peril because that is literally where my mind always goes. 
> 
> Title is from the Weepies song "Rocks and Water"

_Haven’t we been here before?_

Nita’s ‘voice’ is loud in his head, tight with fear that she doesn’t bother trying to hide from him.

 _No sea life this time_ , Kit answers. _Please don’t die._

He can tell from the stricken look on her face that she caught the last bit and he feels like kicking himself.

Nita is treading water a few inches away from him. Her head is tilted back in a futile attempt to keep from swallowing too much water. Her dark hair is plastered to her face and her loose shirt floats up around her waist. She looks exhausted. He longs to reach out and take her arms but 22.5 mm of glass stands between Kit and his partner. It might as well be the distance to the moon and back.

 _Kit,_ says Nita. _It’s worth it._

It’s not. Kit feels like screaming but instead he presses as close to Nita as he can, palms splayed out against the glass. He can feel the cold just from that. It would be so easy to reach through it, just two words to convince the laws of matter to look the other way and Nita could be safely on dry ground again.

 _Don’t_ , says Nita like she can tell what he’s thinking.

She can. He’s never been able to hide things from her, even when she wasn’t in his head.

 _I’m not just going to watch you drown,_ he says more harshly than he probably should.

 _If you do anything, you’ll just be in here with me_ , she says.

She’s right, but the problem is that he doesn’t care. He should, but he doesn’t.

 _Dairine’s coming_ , he tells her but he’s afraid she’ll be too late.

**...**

It’s hard to believe how fast everything went wrong. He should be used to it by now but it still surprises him every time. Nita had offered to check in on something for Carl after work and he had tagged along because he was bored. If he was being completely honest, he wasn’t even entirely sure what Nita had been checking on in the first place. Something about a water system? He couldn’t remember. Not that it mattered now. It turned out that the people on the planet had had a bad experience with an overshadowed wizard a couple years back and while homes had been rebuilt and outward damage erased, suspicion had festered and grown into fear.

After they arrived, Nita had sent Kit to get food saying that she would meet him in 20 minutes after doing whatever it was that she had come to do. But 20 minutes turned into 30 minutes with no sign of her and Kit began to grow worried. He wasn’t sure what it was that made him wary of the people milling about the square but he was suddenly certain that his partner was in trouble.

20 minutes and some judicious snooping later, he found her in a glass box near the permanent worldgate. She was sitting cross-legged in a few inches of water and she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

 _I hoped you had gone for help,_ she had said as he approached.

Her mind-voice sounded far away.

 _What’s wrong?_ he had asked her then. _Why haven’t you beamed out?_

After a quick glance to make sure that no one was looking at them too closely, Nita held up her right wrist to reveal what looked like a cross between a shackle and the inside of a computer.

 _Can’t_ , she had said flatly. _It’s doing something to me. My wizardry isn’t working._

  **...**

That was almost an hour ago. The water level had risen steadily. Nita had to begin treading water after about 40 minutes and soon the cube would be filled. Kit had called Dairine immediately after finding Nita. Dairine had shot back a quick message with more swear words than sense saying that she needed time to figure out the cuff and that Nita would be unaffected by all wizardry until it was removed. Nita had tried to get Kit to leave then but the problem with speaking mind to mind in the Speech was that Kit knew how much she didn’t want to be left alone. So he cloaked himself and slipped up onto the platform as close to Nita as he could.

 _If I die_ , says Nita suddenly. _I want you to know that I wouldn’t trade it for anything, wizardry, this, us._

Kit has to fight back tears.

 _You aren’t supposed to go out like this_ , he thinks before he can stop himself.  _It's not fair._

Nita doesn't say anything. 

A man appears on a balcony behind Nita.

“The time has come,” he says.

The people in the square stop milling about and look at him, then at Nita.

“The Dark One’s witch stands accused,” he intones formally. “She is at the mercy of He Who Knows now. He will weigh her soul.”

The people clap sedately.

Nita shudders. Her lips form the words of the Oath. 

 _Wait, this is a witch burning?_ says Kit. _That’s bullshit!_

He has to fight back a swell of hatred that rises for this man, and these people that allowed him to do this to Nita.

 _Please Kit_ , begs Nita. _Do not die for me._

 _Please don’t make me watch you die for nothing_.

Nita goes under.

_In Life’s Name --_

**...**

Kit can’t breathe. Nita is drowning less than two inches away from him. He presses his hands harder against the glass as if that could help. The words begin to form in his mind almost without his bidding. He can’t watch her die.

Dairine pops into existence at his elbow.

“Kit,” she says breathless with exertion and anger.

He knows.

The people cower.

“Servant of the Dark One,” says the man on the balcony.

“Not quite,” says Dairine flicking up a shield automatically with one hand as she yanks Spot out of her bag with the other.

Nita is hanging limply in the water, her eyes half closed.

“Hurry,” says Dairine. “The shield won’t cover her until that cuff is off.”

Kit doesn’t need to be told twice. He closes the spell and the glass vanishes under his hands.

 _Nita_.

Water floods out, soaking Kit’s feet. It flows around Dairine who is speaking urgently to Spot in hushed tones.

Nita is limp and shuddering on the ground. Kit drops to her side heedless of the water soaking his jeans.

“Nita, Nita, can you hear me?” he asks hauling her into his lap clumsily.

“The witch must not escape,” says the man above them.

Kit ignores him. Nita coughs hacking up water and shivering violently. He holds her tight.

_Love you._

“Kit, her arm,” says Dairine urgently.

It takes him a moment to realize what Dairine is asking. But when he looks up, the most complex spell diagram he has ever seen is next to them. He can recognize a few words, purification, binding but most of it is beyond him.

“Put her arm in the circle,” says Dairine. “We need to go.”

Kit does so, and the diagram unfurls to encompass him and Dairine as well.

“Does the ground suit?” asks Dairine.

Kit nods frantically.

“Run,” says Dairine to Spot and world blinks out.

**...**

They reappear in Tom and Carl’s backyard.

Kit’s stomach rolls. Nita is pale and unconscious in his arms. The cuff is gone from her arm leaving an ugly purple bruise in its place. Dairine groans and rolls over gray-faced. The door bangs open and Carl rushes out with a towel. Monty and Annie trail after him.

“Kit,” says Carl. He joins Kit on the ground. “Nita.”

“The cuff is contained for now,” says Dairine shakily.

She tries to get up only to lose her footing.

“Stay there,” says Carl. “That containment spell is a bad enough energy drain without the transit cost on top of it.”

He hasn’t taken his eyes off of Nita yet.

“Nita, honey,” he says gently but firmly. “I need you to wake up.”

She’s ice cold in Kit's arms but he can feel the strong beat of her heart. She groans.

“Tell me we’re home,” she says.

She sounds flippant but Kit can feel how afraid she was.

“Safe and sound,” says Carl offering Nita the towel.

“You’re welcome,” says Dairine so blank from emotion that it’s clear she was terrified for her sister.

“I’m going to make some tea,” says Carl. “We’ll give you two a moment.”

He helps Dairine to her feet, visibly supporting the girl into the house. The dogs follow.

Kit hugs Nita tightly.

“I thought you were,” he says.

 _Me too_ , she says. _I meant what I said_.

 _I know_ , he answers.

_I love you._

 


End file.
